Illustrated

Every year, the R. Michelson Galleries get filled with a stunning array of work by children’s book illustrators. It’s nearly a guarantee that you’ll know some, even many, of the artists’ names. It’s also a guarantee that any of the works you take a particular shine to were probably locally produced—the Valley is truly a nexus of illustration talent.

In this year’s exhibition, artist Kadir Nelson offers a set of images that are now particularly timely. His images of Nelson Mandela (one of which is pictured) come from a book about the great African leader that made more than one top 10 list for 2013. If the style looks familiar, it’s worth comparing to the Dec. 16 New Yorker cover, which bears another of Nelson’s images of Mandela.

You can see Nelson’s images among the many on view at R. Michelson through Jan. 15. The long list of artists includes Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, Tomie dePaola, Ruth Sanderson, Mo Willems, Tony DiTerlizzi, Rebecca Guay and lots more.